


Time and Time Again

by emilove359



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25409971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilove359/pseuds/emilove359
Summary: An argument over a mysterious necklace leads to James, Albus and Lily ending up in the past, specifically Christmas 1976.Now living in the middle of the first war with Voldemort, the kids try to kick back and enjoy meeting their grandparents and/or namesakes, trying not to let slip any future information that may potentially change the future - with varying results.Meanwhile, their parents try to get them home, all the while trying to avoid arguing themselves into a messy divorce. Needless to say, not all is well within the Potter Household.
Relationships: Albus Severus Potter & James Sirius Potter & Lily Luna Potter, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 1
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

“Do you think Mum and Dad will sign my Hogsmeade slip?” James Sirius Potter absently asked his little brother as he sat down at the kitchen table.

Albus Severus Potter glared at him from across the table. “I don’t know,” Al replied, a hint of sarcasm in his voice, “It’s not that bad, you only TURNED MY HAIR BRIGHT PINK!”

James winced. “Eh, it’s not like its permanent!”

“It doesn’t matter if its permanent!” Albus huffed. “We go to school tomorrow, and Mum said it won’t come out for another three days! Three! Days!”

“I think it’s pretty,” Lily Luna Potter commented as she traipsed into the kitchen and collapsed into a chair next to James.

“To be fair,” mused James, “I was aiming for bubble-gum blue.”

Lily perked up. “Like Teddy? Awww, that would be so cool! Can you do mine next?”

Albus smacked the table harshly before James could reply. “Have you learnt nothing?”

“It’ll be fine!” James said reassuringly. “Everyone’ll think you’re just copying Teddy.”

“Or that you’re also a metamorphmagus,” said Lily.

“Either way,” James said as he leant across the table to ruffle Albus’ pink hair, “Don’t worry, little brother, I won’t let anyone bully you.”

Albus ducked James’ hand and crossed his arms, sulking.

The front door banged open and shut, signalling their father’s arrival home from work, interrupting their conversation.

Harry bustled into the kitchen and immediately out again, depositing his briefcase onto the kitchen table on his way out.

“Hey dad!” James tried to shout as their father hurried out of the room. “Can you sign my Hogsmeade slip…” He trailed off as Harry slammed the kitchen door shut behind him. “I’m gonna assume he didn’t do that because of me.”

“What?” Lily asked sardonically. “Ignore us completely? Doubt it. I don’t think he even noticed Albus’ hair.”  
Albus was cringing behind his hands. “Thank Merlin he didn’t. What is up with him, though?”

Loud footsteps interrupted James before he could reply, followed by muffled shouting that sounded like it came from their mother.

Lily frowned unhappily. “I hate it when Mum and Dad fight.”

James hummed distractedly, looking down at his Hogsmeade slip thoughtfully. “Maybe I can forge it.”

“What?” Albus sat up straight in alarm. “James, don’t!”

“Oh, come on.” James waved a hand at him. “It’ll be fine. Mum and Dad are obviously too busy to sign it right now, and it’s my last chance before school tomorrow.”

Albus crossed his arms. “Well, it’s your fault for leaving it so late. I already have mine signed.”

James ignored him, obviously having made up his mind. “Anyone got a pen?” he asked, looking around the kitchen. He stood up and searched through the kitchen draws.

Lily looked away from the direction of the angry voices. “Um, no. Try dad’s briefcase.”

Albus groaned as James abandoned his search and leapt for the briefcase. “James,” he said, “You are already in enough trouble, are you seriously gonna break into dad’s briefcase too? He could have important, private documents in there!”

James stopped, pinning a winning smile at his little brother as he said, “Don’t worry, Albus. I’m not seriously gonna break into dad’s briefcase.”

Albus frowned, confused, then realised–

“I’m _siriusly_ gonna break into dad’s briefcase!”

“Oh my – really? Really? How old are you?”

Lily rolled her eyes at her brother’s antics and went to stand up, now bored.

James grinned back and went back to opening the case easily to find–

Uh.

No pens, that’s for sure.

Lily stopped in place behind James’ chair, about to leave the room. “Huh,” she said admirably. “That’s really pretty.”

“What?” Albus asked, confused. “What is?” He rounded the table to stand beside his siblings who stared in awe.

It was a necklace. A golden hourglass filled with golden sand was encased in several golden rings, connected to a golden chain.

“What’s dad doing with a necklace?” Albus questioned as James carefully picked it up. “What are you doing? You’re gonna break it!”

James ducked Albus’ hand, tugging the pretty necklace away as he tried to grab it. “I’m not gonna break it, calm down. I just wanna see – hey!”

Lily plucked it from James’ hand and sped around the table, now opposite her brothers, both of which were staring at her even equal annoyance and alarm.

“It’s so pretty,” she cooed, peering down closely at the necklace.

“Lils, give it back!”

“Put it down, you might break it!”

Lily looked up to glare at Albus, who was approaching slowly. She started to back away from him, still clutching the necklace possessively. “I’m just looking, don’t worry–” She was cut off when her foot slipped behind Albus’ previously occupied chair, dragging her down to the floor.

“Lily!” Albus shouted in alarm.

“Lils! Is the necklace okay?”

“Ow,” Lily moaned, having landed flat on her back, the necklace safely clutched to her chest. She started to get up when she realised what James had said. “Yeah, I’m – wait the necklace? Is that all you care about?” She sat up to glare at her oldest brother over the table, just as Albus reached and snatched the necklace away from her. “Hey!”

“Okay,” Albus said, “We’re putting this away before someone breaks it.” As he walked back to the briefcase, he looked down at the necklace and watched as the hourglass spun through the golden hoops. “Oooh.” He stopped. “That’s weird.”

“What? What is it?” asked Lily, who stood up, kicking aside the fallen kitchen chair. She strode to Albus’ side, and James joined her, equally curious.

“Look.” Albus poked the hourglass and watched as it spun faster. “That’s really cool! I wonder why – what am I doing?” Albus stopped and looked up at his siblings in alarm. “We shouldn’t be playing with it, it’s probably a present for Mum or something.”

“Do you think?” Lily asked hopefully. “Maybe then they’ll stop arguing.”

James slumped back in his chair, interest in the necklace drained. “Well, mystery solved then.” He looked back in the briefcase, which housed nothing else aside from the foam that had held the necklace. “I still need to find a pen, though.”

Albus sighed irritably, looking up from the necklace to glare at James again. “Stop it! You’re just gonna get in more trouble, like you always get in trouble, and you deserve it! I’m sick of all the pranks and teasing! I hate it when you turn my hair pink, or shrink all my clothes, or put fireworks under my bed, or put salt in my tea!”

Lily snorted behind her hand. “That was such a lame prank.”

“I was on a budget!” James defended himself. “No magic allowed.”

“Just, just stop it! Why can’t you just leave me alone!”

“Uh, Albus…”

“Would it kill you to give it a rest? Prank someone who wants to be pranked, for Merlin’s sake!”

“Seriously, Albus…”

“They’d probably appreciate it more! Why do you always pick on me? Is this because I’m in Slytherin?”

“What? No! Albus, that’s not–”

“Albus!”

“What!” Albus snapped, turning to face Lily who was staring at him apologetically.

“You’re, uh, bleeding,” she said.

“What?” Albus said dumbly, not fully registering her words.

“And the necklace is broken,” she added.

“What?” he said again, this time more alarmed, and looked down at his hands which had a death grip on the necklace. Shards pierced his skin, and only then did he register the tinge of pain that rang through his palm. The hourglass was cracked, and the sand was leaking through his fingers onto the floor. “Oh no!” On instinct he let go, and the necklace tumbled to the ground. The remaining glass shattered, releasing more sand.

For a moment, no one said anything, staring forlornly at the broken necklace, before the sand seemed to glow, emitting a bright golden light.

James broke the silence, grabbing both of his younger siblings and dragging them away from the light. “It’s glowing. Why is it glowing?”

Albus remained frozen as he was tugged backwards towards the door, but the light was faster, growing stronger, brighter, enveloping the Potter kids’ eyes. Lily screamed as she was blinded, and she folded into James’ shirt, shielding her eyes. James closed his own, and abandoned his attempt to flee, clutching his brother and sister closer with an arm around each of their shoulders. He ducked a frozen Albus’ head against his shoulder and held on tight.

With a sharp pulse of light, the golden glow briefly brightened then faded, leaving behind an empty kitchen, and no sign of the three children of Harry and Ginny Potter.

Only the broken necklace remained, strewn across the kitchen floor, the shards of glass stained with blood.


	2. Chapter 2

It was still dark when James Potter woke up. He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out what had awoken him.

“Sirius?” He whispered sleepily into the darkness and sat up slowly. Silence met his words.

James swung his legs over the side of the bed and slowly made his way over to his bedroom door. The floorboard creaked beneath his feet and he paused, trying to gauge whether he could hear anything, then continue more quickly, easing the door open and looking out into the corridor.

Sirius’ bedroom door was closed, and the hallway was empty.

James rocked back on his heels and considered just going back to bed when a groan drifted up from the stairs. He froze, then fumbled for his wand in his pyjamas. It never hurt to be paranoid, his father always said.

He swallowed, wand at the ready, and crept towards the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible.

There were no more sounds, yet that did nothing to comfort James. Whoever was downstairs could still be there, lying in wait, hoping to catch him unguarded. Well, not this time, creepy intruder who dared break into the Potter Manor. Who did they think they were? His dad was an Auror, for Merlin’s sake! And no one could sneak up on James ‘Prongs’ Potter; he was a mastermind at sneaking around – invisibility cloak or no invisibility cloak – and whoever dared to try must be an idiot–

James jerked and let out a screech when a hand grabbed his wrist. He spun around to face his best friend who grinned at him mischievously.

Sirius started laughing. “You should have seen the look on your face!” He doubled over, gasping, and James wacked in on the shoulder, annoyed. “And you screamed!”

“I didn’t scream!” He defended himself.

“Uh, yeah. Like a little girl!”

James shoved him again, this time more lightly, relief over taking his body as he realised there was no real danger. “How’d you do it, anyway? What spell did you use?”

“Spell?”

“Yeah, for the groaning sound downstairs. It’s a great idea. We should use it for the Slytherins when we get back to school.”

Sirius’ smile slipped. “What are you talking about? I didn’t cast any spell.”

James’ eyes narrowed. “Why are you up then?”

“Uh, you woke me up with your sneaking around. You know you’re terrible at it, right?”

James was indignant. “Excuse me? I am fantastic at sneaking!”

“Yeah, with an invisibility cloak!”

Their argument was cut short when another groan floated from downstairs. Both their heads snapped to the side, staring down the stairs into the darkness.

“That’s what woke me up,” James said slowly. “If it wasn’t you, then…”

Sirius finished for him. “Someone’s downstairs.”

* * *

Harry Potter groaned into his arms as his study door slammed shut behind his fuming wife, which had been happening a lot more recently. It wasn’t like he wanted to fight all the time, but Ginny could sometimes be so… unreasonable.

Urgh!

He banged his head against his desk repeatedly, ignoring the dull pain that came with it. It was his new job, he knew, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it. Not at the moment, anyway. Just until all this mess was finished with the Department of Mysteries.

Harry had recently been promoted to Head Auror which included a lot more responsibilities than just hunting down dark wizards. It also included cooperating with other departments to find dangerous magical artefacts before said dark wizards could wreak havoc with them. Harry’s most recent case included working with Hermione and the Department of Mysteries and that stupid necklace. They’d finally tracked down the wizard who’d been rumoured to be in the possession of a time turner. And not just any time turner, a special one that had been created and lost roughly thirty years ago, hence why it hadn’t been destroyed in the battle of the Department of Mysteries. Theodore Nott had been the one responsible, and they’d already caught him, so all they had to do now was safely secure the time turner within the Department, and that was that.

Then maybe Harry could stop arguing with his wife.

The fireplace within his study lit up, and Hermione Granger-Weasley’s face appeared, looking distinctly disgruntled and worried.

Harry stood up and knelt before the fireplace to greet her. “What’s wrong?” he said, reading her mood correctly.

“The Time Turner’s missing,” she said, her face pinched. “I need you back here for the search.”

All thoughts of ending this goddamn assignment anytime soon and fixing his relationship with his wife flew out the window.

“I’ll be there–”

A shout rang through the manor and Harry heart seized as he recognised Ginny’s voice. He leapt out of the room and tumbled into the kitchen, finding his wife kneeling beside a mound of broken glass and sand.

“What happened?” Harry managed to get out before Ginny overrode him in her panic.

“Have you seen the kids? There’s blood, Harry. Oh Merlin, what happened?”

Harry went to kneel next to Ginny. He dimly recalled coming through the kitchen when he’d arrived home, and seeing all three of the kids before he and Ginny had had their newest argument. He’d left his briefcase on the table and–

Oh no.

He stopped, frozen, and stared at the kitchen table. His briefcase sat open and empty, foam sitting where his casefiles and uneaten lunch should be. One quick look at the floor confirmed the existence of a necklace, partially hidden by the golden sand.

“I think I know what happened,” he started, voice cold and empty, and that was when the wall exploded.

* * *

“They’re kids,” Sirius observed from his place by the kitchen doorway. James didn’t reply, moving cautiously towards the mound of children that had miraculously appeared. He still had his wand out, although Sirius had left his own upstairs.

Sue him, he hadn’t exactly been expecting to encounter three random intruders in the middle of the night. He only woken up when James had noisily walked up and down the upstairs corridor.

The three children currently sleeping on the kitchen tiles were younger then both Sirius and James, who were sixteen. They were sprawled together with the obviously older one clutching his friend (brother?) and a little girl, who looking remarkedly like Lily Evans, with bright red hair and a similar facial structure. Not that Sirius had spent a lot of time staring at Lily Evans, not like James had, but who could blame him? He was sixteen and she was pretty. James certainly had good taste.

One of the kids groaned again, which Sirius identified as the younger boy who looked maybe twelve or thirteen, and looked exactly like James did. That was freaky.

“That is freaky,” Sirius commended out loud.

“What is?” James whispered back.

“He looks like you.” He pointed at the smaller boy, and James moved closer. “What are you doing?”

James waved him off. “I think he’s bleeding.”

He was bleeding. His hand was drenched in his down blood, glass shards sticking out. Sirius’ nose wrinkled at the sight as James carefully removed the glass with his wand and wrapped it up. The kid groaned as he did so, but didn’t wake up.

“What should we do?” Sirius asked. They couldn’t call James’ parents as they were at St Mungo’s. James’ mum work as a Medi-witch there, although the reason they weren’t home was before of his dad, who had recently gotten sick with a mild case of Dragon-Pox. Nasty stuff.

James floundered at the question, indecision clear on his face. “Uhhh…”

One of the kids, the girl this time, twitched in her sleep. “James?” she said sleepily, and both Sirius and James shared a startled look.

James moved closer to the girl and sat next to her. “Hey, it’s okay. Can you tell me who you are?”

The girl’s face pinched as she moved again, this time opening her eyes. “James?” she repeated, and then her eyes widened, and she screamed, waking up her two companions.

Before he could react beyond wincing at the shrill sound, Sirius found himself staring down the end of a wand. James also seemed to be receiving the same treatment, although at least he still had his own wand, pointing it at the other kid.

Well, that’s what he got for forgetting his wand.

The boys were back to back, with the little girl, who was probably their little sister, in between them. And the boys did not look happy. Creepy James-look-alike stared at him stonily, eyes bright with fear and determination. Eyes bright with an emerald green that looked oh so familiar. Lily Evans familiar.

Privately, a young Sirius Black, before he’d been exposed to the life of a Gryffindor, had thought it impossible that Lily Evans had been a muggleborn when he’d first met her, purely due to the face that her eyes seemed to radiate magic.

He knew better now, that being a pureblood had nothing to do with magic and being muggleborn did nothing to reduce her own magical ability – but even so, there always seemed to be something special about her eyes. Eyes there were exactly mirrored in front of him.

If Sirius didn’t know any better, he’s say the kid looked like the perfect cross between James Potter and Lily Evans, from the familiar mop of black hair all the way down the impossibly bright, almost magical green eyes.


End file.
